FIVB World Tour 2018

Just like last year, the 2018 World Tour actually started already in September last year with some minor tournaments. We saw some better teams at the 3-star Qinzhou Open in China in October. The surprising winners back then were Sivolap-Velichko from Russia.

The first real test was quite early in 2018. The indoor beach courts in the Hague, the Netherlands, hosted the first 4-star event. The newly formed Latvian team Plavins-Tocs enjoyed a brilliant tournament, showed really impressive beach volleyball and outplayed the Poles Kantor-Losiak in the final. The Latvians looked great so early in the season, I am curious how far they can go in their development as a team.

In two weeks' time we have the 3-star Kish Island Open which is followed by the first Major event of the year in Fort Lauderdale. Gradually we should see most of the top teams on court.

I would also post it here, it is fine as it is. But what happened and why? Who are their respective new partners?

I don't know. They just weren't get any results together anymore unfortunately, so I guess they both wanted to start fresh. Seems like it was an amicable decision. No announcement on their new partners yet.

Sorry, maybe it is a stupid question and I have to update my knowledge..

But why during the pool stage the four teams do not match all against each other? They face only two team, did thet change rules?

Don't worry, it's not a stupid question at all It's very difficult to catch up with all FIVB's beach volley ideas, sudden tournament and general Tour changes.

Yes, it is a new rule as of 2018. I don't know for sure what the idea really was, perhaps to reduce the number of matches and make every group match really count. Say, there are N1, N8, N9, and N16 seeds (seeded teams) in a group. Then there is something like direct semifinals N1 vs. N16 and N8 vs. N9. The winners play against each other to determine the group winner, that's usually the team to skip the first knock-out stage, whereas the winner among the losers advances to the actual first knock-out stage. If you lose twice in such a group, you are out. Mathematically, you are not out yet when you lose twice, taking the old system into consideration, of course, but it is so with the current one. I was never a fan of any combined ranking/table comparing teams that hadn't played against each other and I don't think too highly of this formula. But it doesn't seem to weird, to be honest, and probably makes the group matches a bit more interesting.

A very interesting season came to an end recently. An incredible run for the young Norwegians Mol-Sorum who won the Gstaad Major, the European Championship, the Vienna Major and then the Tour Finals in Hamburg! Thus, they won the 2018 World Tour by accumulating the largest amount of ranking points and became the second Norwegian pair after the legendary Kvalheim-Maaseide in 1994 to triumph with the Tour title. These guys are a big deal, they are 21 and 23, respectively.

Here's the list of the post-season individual awards recipients:

Most Outstanding Player: Anders Mol

Best Blocker: Anders Mol

Most Improved Player: Anders Mol

Best Offensive Player: Anders Mol

Best Defensive Player: Christian Sørum

Best Server: Evandro Gonçalves

Best Setter: Janis Smedins

Most Inspirational: Ricardo

Sportsman: Ricardo and Aleksandrs Samoilovs

Rookie: Igor Velichko

What is also worth mentioning is that, at the Finals in Hamburg, where the best teams during the season play, there was no Brazilian or US team! It was an all-European affair. And whereas Dalhausser-Lucena won't be there forever, Brazil, unlike the US, have quite naturally introduced new players or promising teams on the international stage at least. However, the rotations between the Brazilian beach volleyball teams took their toll on their overall performance and rankings.